The fall of the Roman Empire
A social and ecological interpretation In this popular essay, Edward Goldsmith finds that internal moral and political decay and unsustainable agriculture underlie the fall of the Roman Empire, while the Barbarian invasions were merely the coup de grace. The comparisons with our own society and misguided sense of permanence are unsettling. Originally published in The Ecologist, July 1975, then in Le Sauvage (France), April 1976. This revised version appeared as Chapter 1 of The … Read More
Indigenous peoples declaration on climate change
At the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Durban, South Africa in December, the representatives of Indigenous Peoples from around the world made their own Declaration (full text in English below—sourced from Forest Peoples). See also the Proposal for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth made at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change, Bolivia, April 2010. Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples of the World to the UNFCCC COP … Read More
Globalisation and Maori (1998)
Edward Goldsmith explains the corporate takeover of governments and the global centralised planning being orchestrated by multinationals via the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Globalisation and Maori explores this corporate agenda through its impact upon the Maori of Aotearoa (New Zealand) and other peoples. TKM Productions, Aotearoa 1998. See also Aotearoa: Land of the Long White Cloud. … Read More
A Blueprint for Survival – a review
This brief review of A Blueprint for Survival by Mark Anslow was published in The Ecologist, July 2007, in the "Classic book club" section - "Revisiting the books that shaped the environmental movement". Reading A Blueprint for Survival written by Ecologist founder Edward Goldsmith [with Robert Allen and colleagues], is at once incredibly refreshing and incredibly exasperating. Refreshing because his grasp of global social and environmental problems is so piercingly … Read More
Indigenous peoples declaration on climate change
At the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Durban, South Africa in December, the representatives of Indigenous Peoples from around the world made their own Declaration (full text in English below—sourced from Forest Peoples). See also the Proposal for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth made at the World People’s Conference on Climate Change, Bolivia, April 2010. Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples of the World to the UNFCCC COP … Read More
The super-informed society
Or "Many paths to nonsense: information theory applied to the living world". Will the proliferation of information technology really help us to solve the important issues we face today, or will it simply add to our already mounting problems? Goldsmith argues (in 1982) that the impending development of the internet and resulting "information revolution" will not be all that it is claimed. He further argues that there is an essential difference between the kind of information that … Read More
Featured Articles
Indigenous peoples declaration on climate change
At the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Durban, South Africa in December, the representatives of Indigenous Peoples from around the world made their own Declaration (full text in English below—sourced from Forest Peoples). See also the Proposal for a Universal Declaration of the … [Read More]
Belo Monte – announcement of war (2012)
The construction of the Belo Monte dam is one of the most controversial developments ever seen in Brazilian history. The issues raised by its construction go beyond environmental, cultural and social impacts. The approval of a gigantic development in the heart of the Amazon forest, among indigenous lands, has … [Read More]
Richard Willson – R.I.P.
Peter Bunyard and Robert Prescott-Allen remember their old friend, cartoonist extraordinaire, Richard Willson who died in November 2011. By the time of Teddy Goldsmith’s memorial service, almost two years’ ago, Richard Willson was suffering severely from Parkinson’s disease, but his mind was … [Read More]
Ecology
The Ecologist: Four decades of global warning
The Independent newspaper reflects upon 40 years of The Ecologist The
How The Ecologist began . . .
Peter Bunyard recounts how he, Teddy, Jean Liedloff and Robert Allen started The
Systems theory
Increased complexity leads to greater stability
Published as Chapter 52 of The Way: An Ecological Worldview, originally published
Science’s superstitions
The cult of randomness and the taboo on teleology This article is an extended
Society as a natural system
Chapter 1 of The Stable Society: its structure and control: Towards a Social
sending...